The present invention is directed to a cutting and liquid chemical application apparatus that cuts vegetation and efficiently applies a chemical, typically a herbicide, to the fresh cut and lateral surfaces of the stump. This “cut and wipe” process eliminates many risks involved in spray application of chemicals and reduces the loss of chemicals to the ground. In particular, the present invention is directed to a mechanized cutter having an integrated liquid applicator particularly positioned in relation to the cutter.
Agriculturists and land managers commonly clear areas of vegetation for many reasons. For example, when harvesting crops, such as wheat, a farmer cuts the stalk or stem with a harvester and collects the grain for further processing. Likewise, land stewards often clear wetland and forest areas of fast-growing invasive plant species, or specifically use fast-growing plants for biological remediation of soil to remove heavy metals from the soil. For example, the invasive plants may be common reed grass, also known as Phragmites, loosestrife, or woody brush plants like glossy buckthorn or Japanese honeysuckle. Regardless of the species, whether the mode of control is physical removal or chemical herbicide application, generally the aerial portion of the plant in question must be removed for sunlight to penetrate the area and allow native or other plants to regenerate. The remaining live stump or stem then dies from the specific chemical fluid. Typically this removal step is a physically separate step from chemical application, resulting in additional costs and complexity. Generally an operator wishes to remove cut biomass.
Higher quality biomass for further processing requires reducing the residues and contaminates in the biomass. The biomass can then be either disposed or used in a downstream process, such as food production or processing into biofuels. However, producing higher quality biomass is expensive and inefficient with some manual or mechanical devices, which may also disturb the soil and have high off-target losses of chemical fluids that can create risks to surrounding vegetation, water, and potentially human health, as well as costly losses of chemical fluids. In environments where the invasive species are integrated with sensitive habitats or Threatened and Endangered (T&E) species, precise control of the application and mitigation of off-target chemical losses are critical to legal application and successful control.
The present invention provides an apparatus and method particularly well suited for cutting vegetation and applying chemical fluids to the stump efficiently over wide areas, particularly with common mechanical devices such as sickle bar trimmers, sicklebar cutters, rotary mowers, harvesters, and flail mowers. Prior art and existing products apply the herbicide or chemical fluids directly to a blade, whether by hand or by a mechanical metering method. This contact with the fast-moving blade imparts a substantial amount of kinetic energy into the chemical, causing unintended atomization that reduces the chemicals' effectiveness, and losses of chemicals. Furthermore, the chemical fluids are also applied to all surfaces exposed to the mowing or cutting activity, including the plant tissues of the cut biomass. This contaminates the biomass, such that it is less usable for downstream process, and a waste of chemical fluids by applying them to surfaces where they will not be effective.
Thus, applying chemicals with a spray droplet transfer process of some type or mechanical method often forces operators to reduce the concentration or dosage of the chemicals to provide adequate coverage. The reduced dosage reduces the efficiency of the treatments and increases costs by requiring applicators to transport large volumes of diluent (normally water) along with the chemical fluids to complete the application. Therefore, employing selective methods, such as cutting and wiping, requires using slow labor intensive methods to cut the vegetation, apply herbicides or other chemical fluids by hand, and collect the biomass. Slow and inefficient application of the chemical fluids after cutting the vegetation allows the vegetation to seal its vascular system at the cut wound, which reduces the amount of herbicide that reaches the vegetation's roots by capillary action and reduces the herbicide's effectiveness. However, this extensive process is often required to completely remove invasive species from a site, but due to the low productivity and arduous nature of the work, becomes cost prohibitive.
Applying the chemical fluids precisely to the desired vegetation stumps immediately after cutting improves efficiency and reduces losses due to contaminated biomass and non-target vegetation. Therefore, at sites where cut and chemical application is required, the biomass and soil has reduced chemical residue, chemical waste is reduced, undesired vegetation is treated with an adequate herbicide dosage quickly, and manual labor is dramatically reduced. Thus, soil residues are reduced and biomass is preserved for further downstream processes.
According to an aspect of the present invention a method for cutting and applying a chemical to vegetation includes cutting vegetation stems with a cutting implement to remove biomass from the stems. Furthermore, applying a chemical to a stump portion of the vegetation stems below and behind the cutting implement, for example, by dragging the applicator over the stump that spatially separates cutting and applying the chemical. Applying the chemical is substantially and contemporaneously in a continuous motion with cutting the vegetation stems.
Furthermore, according to an aspect of the present invention a vegetation cut and chemical application apparatus includes the cutting implement, a chemical reserve container, and a porous and absorbent chemical applicator. The chemical reserve container is in fluid communication with the applicator and supplies chemicals from the container, through the apparatus, and to the applicator. The cutting implement has a bottom side and a cutting side and the applicator is affixed to the bottom side of the cutting implement. Furthermore, applicator is configured to restrict the applicator from being in fluid communication with the cutting side by being disposed behind and below a cutting plane of the cutting implement. The apparatus, therefore, cuts vegetation with the cutting implement and applies chemical fluids to the stumps.
Thus, it will be appreciated that the apparatus and method can cut vegetation and apply chemical fluids to the stump efficiently over wide areas, particularly with common mechanical devices such as sickle bar trimmers, rotary mowers, and flail mowers. Furthermore, the chemical fluids are precisely applied so that the biomass has reduced chemical residue. The apparatus cuts vegetation with a cutting implement and applies chemical fluids to the stumps behind and below a cutting plane of the implement. Therefore, the amount of chemical fluids applied to biomass and adjacent non-target areas is reduced, chemical waste is reduced, undesired vegetation is treated with a correct dosage, and manual labor is dramatically reduced. Thus, biomass is preserved for further downstream processes or left behind, and the soil residues are reduced with reduced losses of chemical as compared to conventional spray applications.
These and other objects, advantages, purposes and features of this invention will become apparent upon review of the following specification in conjunction with the drawings.